Small Town Lightning
by Lady Morgan of Sealand
Summary: Lightning is a resident of Radiator Springs with his best friends Mater and Sally. On his road to become a famous racecar, he has some obstacles to overcome. Please read, better than it sounds! Non-Humanized Cannon! OC RedXOC, FinnxOC SalQueen MxH and everything in between!
1. Two Best Mates

**Hello Folks! And welcome to my first ever Cars fic! I hope I do this archive justice. I got this idea from my little brother, Matt. Whose been on a "All I want to watch is Cars" mood so for the past week its been a nonstop marathon of Cars 1 then Cars 2 and back to Cars 1. He would not even come to the kitchen to eat lunch. So while watching Cars 1 for what must have been the hundredth time, I got the idea of "How would it be different is Lightning was actually from Radiator Springs?" And well, this is the result.**

**Enough of m babbling, lets get this show on the road!**

**I would like to dedicate this story to my tots awesome twin sister, Emma, you rock sis! Love you!**

**Words: 1,215**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Cars, that's property of its rightful owners over at Disney Studios. I am not writing this story for money, nor would I want to. **

**Now that that pesky thing is out of the way, let us get on with the rest of this story!**

* * *

It was a beautiful day in Radiator Springs, Arizona. The noonday sun was shining proudly upon its residents.

Red was currently watering the flowers while Lizzy was staring longingly at the statue of Stanly.

Guido and Luigi were currently painting the outside of their shop a beautiful sea green colour.

Most of the town was currently at Flo's V-8 cafe, getting some lunch.

"Has anyone seen Lightning or Mater today?" Sheriff asked as he looked at the empty pump that would be occupied by said two.

"Haven't seen those two kids since breakfast, hun." Flo said, "They got their morning oil and drove off, something about Mater wanting to show Lightning something he found."

"As long as they don't get into any trouble." Sheriff grumbled.

"Really, Sheriff? This is Lightning and Mater we are talking about. Those two spell trouble." Sarge said gruffly.

"Well then, maybe you could sort those two out then." Doc said, as he rolled up to a pump.

"You know it would do no use, Doc." Sarge said, "Besides' there just kids, let them have their fun."

Doc was about to respond when a roar of car stopped them and a blur of red and white past by them, and screeched to a halt at the entrance to the cafe.

Lightning stood there, a coat of shiny red paint on him with a yellow lightning bolt on both sides and white trimmings. He smiled widely as he wheeled to look at a slower moving brown tow truck coming towards him.

"Hey, Mater! How'd I do?" Lightning asked his best mate when he stopped next to him.

"You just gone and done beat your fastest record!" Mater responded, high wheeling his best mate.

"Yes!" Lightning cheered, "Move like a Cadillac and sting like a Beamer!" he shouted as he and Mater rolled up to the pump to get some gas.

"Good afternoon, folks." Lightning greeted everyone as Mater took the first turn at the old open pump.

"Afternoon, Lightning." Everyone responded except for Doc.

"What's wrong, Doc?" Lightning asked the old car, who narrowed his eyes at him.

"I just don't see what is so important to you about racing, you are gonna get yourself hurt one of these days, kid." he said, giving a sigh as he looked Lightning in the eyes.

"It's what I'm good at, Doc. And if I make it big, I could put this place back on the map." Lightning replied, ignoring the last part of Doc's speech as Mater drove backwards out of the pump so Lightning could get his fill.

Doc huffed, "I know that's important to you kid and we all appreciate what you are trying to do for us, but we don't want to see you get hurt." Doc continued on from his speech. He'd been giving Lightning the same speech ever since Sheriff and Mater brought him into his shop. And when Lightning told him that he wanted to be a racecar, that was when Doc started with his daily lectures to the kid about the hazards of racing.

Lightning rolled his dark blue eyes, "For the thousandth time Doc, I'm not gonna get hurt. " he said.

"Suit yourself." Doc said huffily, rolling out of the pump and driving to his office. Lightning watched him go as he took a second to glance at his garage before rolling into the shop. Lightning always wondered what was in there. But he knew better than to go snooping through Doc's stuff.

"He's just looking out for you, kid." Sheriff said, "When I found you out there, he took you in right away." Sherriff said, reminding Lightning of all those years ago when he had broken down in Radiator Springs.

He was living in a small town in southern Indiana. He had just been rejected from the Indiana 500 due to his lack of credentials and a sponsor. He knew he could make it, he just needed someone to sponsor him.

So he left home, saying goodbye to his parents and siblings and left. He drove and drove until his tires burst out somewhere along Route 66. He had enough gas in him to pull himself closer to the lights in the distance before he finally collapsed by a welcome sign.

Sheriff had found him and woke him up and had called Mater to come and tow him into town. The two had talked a lot while Sheriff had sped ahead to tell Doc that he was coming in. By the time the two reached Doc's, they were already best friends.

Lightning had decided to stay, he thought it best to stay and gain his strength and, with his best friends help, work on his lap speed.

"Come on, McQueen!" Mater said, playfully bumping him. "I found a really cool place that looks like a racetrack, you wanna go and practice there?"

"You betcha!" Lightning said and the two drove out of the cafe. "Bye, guys!" Lightning called over his left side as the two friends made their way to the racetrack.

* * *

**So there we go! I hope you all enjoyed that! We have Doc's little secret of being the Hudson Hornet and I hope your all looking forward to win Lightning finds out who Doc really is! Also, Miss Sally makes her debut appearance! So you know next chapter is gonna be good!**

**So please do me a favor and click that cute little blue button at the bottom of the page and leave me a review on what you thought.**

**Beware of Nargles,**

**~LatinMagicWriter is on fire**


	2. Meet Sally Carrera

**Sorry for the super long wait, life has been hectic, I have school tomorrow (optional summer school: Advance Placement United States History) and I have to read The Kite Runner for Advance Placement Literature and Composition for the fall, so I'm in for a busy summer in which I hoped I would be able to update a lot.**

**Also, in response to reviewers, The characters are a few years younger than they are when they were introduced in the first movie.**

**I am not from the United Kingdom, but I am British. I spent a lot of time with my Papa (grandpa) who was from England and he taught me and my sisters a lot about British culture and slang that is used commonly there. He taught us spelling and made us spell everything 'The British Way' so that's why I spell things like labour, colour, and favourite with a 'u' and why I say things like mate when referring to two friends like Mater and Lightning. And I also read Harry Potter a lot, so I'm even more accustomed to seeing and speaking the British way. If I use a British terms in my writing and you don't know what they mean, leave them in a review and I will explain the meaning of them in the next chapter. **

**I believe that is it...**

**Anyways, after watching Cars 1 and 2, I probably have a nice map of Radiator Springs hardwired into my brain. So that will come in handy.**

**So, enough of me waffling on about everything, let us get on with the show!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Cars, that is the rightful property of Disney, but I do own the plot of my story. **

**Special thanks to my new friend in this archive, MereMcqueen, for giving me some awesome idea's! You rock, Mere. And also to my twin sister, Emma, love you. Thanks for putting up with me.**

**Words: 1,765**

_**Previously on: Small Town Lightning**_

* * *

_"I just don't see what is so important to you about racing, you are gonna get yourself hurt one of these days, kid." he said, giving a sigh as he looked Lightning in the eyes._

_"It's what I'm good at, Doc. And if I make it big, I could put this place back on the map." Lightning replied, ignoring the last part of Doc's speech as Mater drove backwards out of the pump so Lightning could get his fill._

_Doc huffed, "I know that's important to you kid and we all appreciate what you are trying to do for us, but we don't want to see you get hurt." Doc continued on from his speech. He'd been giving Lightning the same speech ever since Sheriff and Mater brought him into his shop. And when Lightning told him that he wanted to be a racecar, that was when Doc started with his daily lectures to the kid about the hazards of racing._

_Lightning rolled his dark blue eyes, "For the thousandth time Doc, I'm not gonna get hurt. " he said._

_"Suit yourself." Doc said huffily, rolling out of the pump and driving to his office. Lightning watched him go as he took a second to glance at his garage before rolling into the shop. Lightning always wondered what was in there. But he knew better than to go snooping through Doc's stuff._

_"He's just looking out for you, kid." Sheriff said, "When I found you out there, he took you in right away." Sherriff said, reminding Lightning of all those years ago when he had broken down in Radiator Springs._

_He was living in a small town in southern Indiana. He had just been rejected from the Indiana 500 due to his lack of credentials and a sponsor. He knew he could make it, he just needed someone to sponsor him._

_So he left home, saying goodbye to his parents and siblings and left. He drove and drove until his tires burst out somewhere along Route 66. He had enough gas in him to pull himself closer to the lights in the distance before he finally collapsed by a welcome sign._

_Sheriff had found him and woke him up and had called Mater to come and tow him into town. The two had talked a lot while Sheriff had sped ahead to tell Doc that he was coming in. By the time the two reached Doc's, they were already best friends._

_Lightning had decided to stay, he thought it best to stay and gain his strength and, with his best friends help, work on his lap speed._

_"Come on, McQueen!" Mater said, playfully bumping him. "I found a really cool place that looks like a racetrack, you wanna go and practice there?"_

_"You betcha!" Lightning said and the two drove out of the cafe. "Bye, guys!" Lightning called over his left side as the two friends made their way to the racetrack._

* * *

"Argh!" Screamed Lightning as he made that turn and road off the track. He had been having trouble for the past three hours that he and Mater had been on the track. He just couldn't make that damn turn.

"Mater!" Lightning said as he heard his mate above him.

"Oh, holds on, McQueen. I gots you." He replied as he swung his hook, attaching it to McQueen's undercarriage and hoisted him back up.

When Lightning was on the track again, he saw that Mater was starring off at the road.

"What?" Lightning asked as he looked at Mater's vision to see a beautiful blue Porsche driving. Lightning's face dropped, his mouth open as he stared at the blue car. "Holy Porsche." He sighed.

"Hey!" She yelled at them, snapping the two blokes out of their reverie. "You guys know where I can get some gas? I'm just about empty." She asked them.

"Oh, yea, sure. We'll take you into town, it ain't that far. Flo's got the Mutt's nuts of gas on all of good ol' Route 66." Mater said as the two made their way over to her.

"Thanks." She said, giving a smile to the two. "My name is Sally, by the way, Sally Carrera."

"I'm Lightning McQueen, and this is my best mate, Mater." Lighting said, introducing themselves to Sally.

"Ha, your mate Mater." Mater said, laughing to himself.

They drove back into town, meeting up with the townsfolk who were currently Flo's getting their oil for the night.

"Hiya boys, and whose this?" Flo said, greeting the boys and looking at Sally.

"Oh, I'm Sally Carrera." Sally said, introducing herself to the folks.

"Well, hello there Sally. It sure is nice to see a new face around here." Flo said, "This is my husband, Ramone." She introduced, indicating her currently midnight blue husband.

"This is Guido, Luigi, Red, Lizzie, Sheriff, Sarge, Filmore, and Doc." Flo carried on, introducing everyone while Sally got herself a pump.

"Hi everyone." Sally greeted as she filled up her tank.

"Hey, Sally." Lightning said, rolling up next to Sally at the pump."

"Yea, Lightning?" She asked him.

"Since it's late and all, I was wondering if you wanted to stay at the Cozy Cone with me. Well, not with me there. But in your own cone." Lightning said, "It's the motel I own. It's newly refurbished." He added.

"Yea, thanks, Lightning." Sally agreed, giving him a big smile.

"Hehe, no problem." He replied.

"Best be careful around Lightning and Mater over here, Sally." Sheriff said with a smile, "They sure know how to throw a spanner in the works." He said, causing everyone but Doc to laugh.

Doc just gave out a tired sigh and rolled out of Flo's and into his store.

"What's with him?" Sally asked Lightning innocently as she watched the old car drive away.

"Oh, he doesn't really like me that much." Lightning said, watching as Doc drove away.

"You know that's not true, Lightning." Flo said, rolling up in front of them two.

"I know." Lightning said, use to the conversations Flo had with him when Doc was in his "let me torture Lightning with talks about racing" moods.

"He's just looking out for you, duck." Flo continued on. "He doesn't want to see anything bad happen to you."

"I know. But he can be a real grouch about it." Lightning complained.

"He's old, Lightning. He just has your best interest at engine." **(A/N like best interest at heart)** Flo replied.

"I know." Lightning replied as he pulled out, Sally behind him.

"Night folks." Lightning and Sally said in unison, making both of their windshields tint a shade of rouge.

The remaining cars chuckled, "Night you two." They replied as Lightning led Sally to her cone.

"Here you go, Sally, Cone Number 1." Lightning said, opening the garage.

"Thanks for letting me stay here tonight." Sally said.

"No problem. We don't get many people traveling through town." Lightning said.

Sally gave a sympathetic smile. "Well, night Lightning." She said.

"Night, Sally." Lightning replied before driving towards the lobby.

* * *

**Well, I do so hope you enjoyed it! I apologize if it is quite shitty as I'm still getting use to writing in this archive. **

**So please leave me a review telling me what you thought of the chapter! And don't forget, if you don't know what one of the word(s) I used means, leave it in a review and I will define it next chapter.**

**TTFN- Ta ta for now,**

**~LatinMagicWriter is on fire**


	3. Customers!

**Sorry for the long wait, people. I've been swamped with work and writing for this story! You are in for a wild ride!**

**Words: 1,956**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Cars, that is the property of Pixar and Disney. I do however, own my plot line and not much else.**

* * *

It was like any other morning in Radiator Springs as Sarge played the Reveille like he did every morning and raised the Flag of the United States. And just like every day, Fillmore interrupts Sarge's bugle Reveille with Jimi Hendrix's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." And thus begins their morning arguments.

"Will you turn that disrespectful junk off!" Sarge shouted as Fillmore played his music over his.

"Respect the classics, man. It's Hendrinx!" Fillmore shouted back like he did every morning.

In Cozy Cone Number 1, Sally Carrera had just woken up from the best nights sleep she had just gotten in months.

She stretched out her axles and rotated her tires a bit, fighting back a yawn.

She opened up the garage and rolled out, but she stopped short when she saw Lightning pulling some contraption.

"Morning, Sally." Lightning greeted her as he pulled the machine forward a bit.

"Good morning, Lightning." She replied, driving over to where the red car was. "What are you doing?" She questioned the car.

"Fixing up the road." Lightning replied, pulling the firing machine further down the road.

"Really?" She asked, looking at him while he pulled the huge piece of machinery.

"Yea, just something for me to do for the town. It also helps build up muscle **(Do cars even have muscles?) **which would help me when I'm racing. But it's mainly for the town." Lightning told her.

"So how long have you been at this, Tiger?" She asked him.

"Well, I get up at around four o'clock to drink some gas. So about…oh two and half hours." Lightning said after thinking for a while.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive." Sally commented.

"It's nothing really." He said as he pulled it past the Cozy Cone's drive way. Just then, a bubble of asphalt exploded, covering Lightning's hood.

"Aw man!" He said, "I just got the last one washed off." He frowned as Sally began laughing.

"Oh, you think this is funny?" He said in a playful mood.

Sally said nothing but continued to laugh as Lightning looked around hoping to see his favourite fire truck.

Just as his luck would have it, Lightning saw Red not to far down the road watering the plants outside of Flo's V8 Café.

"Hey, Red!" Lightning called out to the shy truck. Red looked up and spotted Lightning and smiled in his direction.

"Can you give me a hose-down, buddy?" Lightning asked. Red smiled and drove over, spraying Lightning with his hose, getting all of the asphalt off of him before the hot Arizona sun could bake it onto him.

"Thanks, Red." Lightning said as the Fire truck drove away." Lightning used his back wheel to hit a button, turning off Bessie. He took a deep breath before pulling the machine off to the side. He unhooked his undercarriage from where it was attached to Bessie and stretched out as the burden of the heavy machine.

It was at this time that everyone in the town seemed to wake up, all heading to Flo's for their morning oil.

"Shall we have some breakfast?" Lightning asked, stretching out his wheel to allow her to go in front of him.

"We shall." Lightning said as she drove in front of him.

Lightning chuckled and watched as she went. "Hey, do I spy a little pinstriping tattoo back there?" Lightning called out.

"Auuww. Haha. That's just a... Ahhahaha. Auuww. You saw that? Yeah! Uh, lets go get that oil." Sally said, stammering over her words as she quickly drove over to Flo's for oil.

Lightning chuckled and drove after her, meeting up with Mater.

Everyone was idling in front of Flo's all with a full tanks worth of gas and just talking.

* * *

"Hey! Lookie there!" Mater shouted, "Customers!" he shouted, getting everyone's attention as they saw the two cars in the distance.

Lightning drove up in front of them, assuming the leadership roll. "All right, everybody calm down for a long time. Just remember what we rehearsed. Make sure your "Open, please come in" signs are out. And you all know what to do. All right, nobody panics. Here we go!" He shouted as everyone went to their shops, Sally, not knowing what to do just stayed where she was while Lightning drove to meet the customers.

"Van, I just don't see any on-ramp anywhere." The pink mini van said to the green one.

"Minny, I know exactly where we are." Van replied to his wife in an all knowing voice that all men assume when they know that they are wrong like they always are.

"Yeah, we're in the middle of nowhere." His wife retorted to her husband.

"Honey, please." Van said, shooting his wife a look.

Lightning drove up to them and smiled, startling the two vans. "Hello. Welcome to Radiator Springs, gateway to Ornament Valley. Legendary for it's quality service and friendly hospitality. How can we help you?" Lightning asked in a cheerful voice.

"We don't need anything, thank you very much." Van replied as he continued to drive along the road.

"Whoa, honey ask him direction to the Interstate." Minny said as Lightning's face fell for half a second before driving behind the couple.

"There's no need to ask for directions. Minny, I know exactly where we're going." Van replied.

Minny turned to Lightning, "He did the same thing on our trip to Shakopee. You know, we were headed over there for the Crazy Days, and we..."

"OK,OK. Really. We're just peachy, OK?" Van said quickly, not wanting his wife to make a fool of herself.

They past Fillmore's dome where he came out, "What you really need is the sweet taste of my homemade, organic fuel, man" He said.

"No, it doesn't agree with my tank." Van said, driving away from the Volkswagen Type 2 Car.

Minny looked apologetic at the old Volkswagen and replied, "We're just trying to find the Interstate."

Sarge then rolled out of his store, "Good to see you, Soldier! Come on by Sarge's Surplus Hut for all your government surplus needs."

"Ohh, honey, surplus!" Minny said in an excited tone.

"I think we have too much surplus." He said in an annoyed tone.

Lightning spoke, "I do have a map over the Cozy Cone Motel. And if you do stay, we offer a free Lincoln Continental breakfast." He said.

Minny smiled and nudged her husband, "Honey, he's got a map." She said happily.

Van snapped back, "I don't need a map! I have the GPS. Never need a map again, thank you."

Flo rolled past Sally, "How 'bout somethin' to drink? Stop at Flo's V8 Cafe. Finest fuel on Route 66." She said, showing her best Showgirl smile.

"No, we just top off." Van said in an apologetic voice.

Luigi stepped forward, "And if you need tires, stop by Luigi's Casa Della Tires, home of the Leaning Tower of Tires."

Minny spoke, "We're just trying to find the Interstate."

Ramone rolled up, "But you do need a paint job man. Ramone will paint you up right. Hey, anything you want! You know, like a flame job." He said.

"No, thanks..." Minny said.

"Maybe ghost flames! You like old school pinstripin'? Von Dutch style ha?" He said, showing the couple his undercarriage.

"Oh, honey, look. Von Dutch." Minny said in a shakey voice.

"Oh, ho, OK, no. Ahahaha. We're gonna be going now, OK? Ah!" He shouted as Lizzie stamped a bumper stick on his bumper.

"A little somethin' to remember us by, OK?" She shouted to them.

"Oh,ha,ha. OK!" Van shouted as they finally reached the end of the small town.

Lightning yelled, "Come back soon, OK? I mean, you know where we are! Tell your friends!"

"HohohOK! Yes. You bet." Van said in a fake voice.

Minny called out from behind her, "Thanks again, folks. Bye-bye now." She called out.

"It's okay, guys." Lightning said, turning to the towns folk. "They know where we are. They're gonna tell their friends."

Lizzie smiled, "Don't worry guys, this town will be hoppin' in no time." She drove away and stood on her porch, turning on her radio.

Sally came driving over to where Lightning was.

"You okay?" She asked him.

"Yea, I'm fine." He replied as the news caught his attention.

"_Still no sign of Salena Lynda Weathers. The ex-racecar and daughter of The King disappeared the other night. Investigators are still searching for her. _

_Meanwhile, The King is preparing for his final race against Chick Hicks for the Piston Cup._

"I didn't know The King had a daughter." Lightning said.

"Oh, yeah, Salena." Sally said, eyeing Lightning nervously.

"So what do they mean by ex-racecar?" Lightning asked her.

"Oh, well. The King got into a bad wreck a few years back. Salena took over the position of the Dinoco Racecar while he was being repaired." She answered him.

"So you're a racing fan." Lightning said, looking at Sally.

"Kinda, my dad was the big fan. He was always taking me and my younger brother to the races." Sally replied.

"So you have brothers?" Lightning asked her.

"Yea, the twins, annoying as they are." She said, causing both cars to chuckle.

"What are their names?" Lightning asked.

"Fred and George." She replied. Lightning gave her an odd look before he began to laugh.

Sally rolled her eyes, "Yes, the same Fred and George from the Harry Potter series. Mom had read the series while she was pregnant with the twins. Only thought it was right." Sally replied.

"Wow." Lightning said, as the two cars laughed.

* * *

**Okay, my inspiration has run dry. (that's whats going on) (Haha, had to put it in 8D). I do so hope you all enjoyed it! I surely did enjoy typing it all up for you! So do me the honour of reviewing this chapter! (See, I wasn't joking that I had basically memorized all of Cars 1 movie.)**

**The Chamber of Secrets has been opened! Haters and Flamers BEWARE! (I was up all night yesterday waiting for PotterMore to open up the Chamber! SO excited for the rest of the chapters to come out! If you're a member, add me, FireboltHeart14774! I'm in Ravenclaw!)**

**~LatinMagicWriter is on fire**


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